The invention is based on an apparatus to separate the legs of poultry carcasses, predominantly present in the form of so-called "back halves"--that is, a caracas portion in which the breast portion (front half) is separated by a transverse incision conducted between the upper and lower extremities, leaving the so-called "oyster meat" on the back half, and consists of a saddle-shaped carcass section with the pelvis, the lower portion of the vertebral column, the hip joints with the legs, and the tail portion, comprising the main conveyor, which determines the conveyance path, with holders to hold the poultry carcasses by the legs in a suspended arrangement and the conveyance of the carcasses with the vertebral column in the longitudinal direction, processing devices disposed along the conveyance path to detach and to separate the legs in the area of the hip joints, and devices correlated with the processing devices for guiding and for the supporting conveyance of the back halves.
Such an apparatus is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,559. In this apparatus, a processing tool is used which has the task of separating the legs from the poultry back halves, comprising the legs and the pelvis, in the area of the hip joints. To this end, the back halves are moved forward by a conveyor with suspended shackles on the foot joints, suspended along a horizontal conveyance path, wherein a preliminary separation from the inside of the pelvis takes place in the area of the hip joints. Subsequently, the pelvis portion is turned by rotating the hip joints 180.degree. and by means of a conveyance disk acting on the inside of the pelvis, conducted out of the conveyance path, wherein a separation of the legs from the pelvis is carried out by tearing.
With such devices, the important thing is that the meat yield be as high as possible, which for the processing under discussion means that care must be taken that as little mat as possible is lost with the separated pelvis. An inevitable prerequisite for this is that the "oyster meat" reliably remain on the leg portions obtained. At ale same time, it should also be ensured that the joint balls not be damaged; a harming of the balls can produce, among other things, the undesired effect that bone marrow leaks from the upper thigh bone and is spread of the product. Finally, the leg portions obtained should have an appropriate appearance--that is, have as smooth as possible a contour and surface in the separation area
There is therefore a need to provide a comparatively simple apparatus for separating legs from poultry backs, which ensures an optimal meat yield and produces a qualitatively optimized product.